Fuel and Propulsion Technologies

Most automoblies in use today are propelled by an internal combustion engine, fuelled by deflagration of gasoline (also known as petrol) or diesel. Both fuels are known to cause air pollution and are also blames for contributing to climate change and global warming. Rapidly increasing oil prices, concerns about dependence, tightening environmental laws and restrictions on greenhouse gas emissions are propelling work on alternative power systems for automobiles. Efforts to improve or replace existing technologies include the development of hybird vehicles, plug-in electric vehicles and hydrogen vehicles. Vehicles using alternative fuels such as ethanol flexible-fuel vehicles and natural gas vehicles are also gaining popularity in some counties.

Oil consumption in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries has been abundantly pushed by automoblie growth the 1985-2003 oil glut even fuelled the sales of low economy vehicles in OECD countries. The BRIC countries might also kick in as China briefly was the first automoblie market in December 2009.